BLOODY MARY

A Telephone Prose Poem

First publication: Nictoglobe Issue #2, 2009

Eddie Woods - 1985

EDDIE WOODSspeaking
on the phone to the Israeli filmmaker and visual artist Jacques Katmor, 1985.
EW's end of the conversation spontaneously recorded by Peter Edel (at Ins &
Outs Press). Also present was the American writer William Levy.

Where would I be?

Oh...!

That is one thing...I can be accused of many things, but
that I toy with words or play with words: I do not toy, my dear. I know words;
words are my dedication. My dedication is to know and to understand words
inside and out; to use them absolutely properly; and--as far as possible--to
make them relate to my highest conscious understanding of what they are doing.

Well, you say, you say. But that
is my art. My art is words.

Words for me...are not only
serious...they are the same thing as bullets.

When I write, when I speak. And
the way I am speaking now, my words are like bullets.

This is a pose? But I am the gangster poet of this age. And I have enough fucking
ammunition to wipe out as much opposition as will ever come up against me. And
every fucking bullet will hit the mark, because I am a good shot. I don’t know
what kind of weapon you like to fire, but I can tell you this...I was damn good
with a .45 automatic. [Laughs]

Really? You’re telling me that I
don’t take words seriously?

No, it is not irrelevant. It is
definitely not irrelevant.

My purpose in life is to know God,
to love God and to serve God.

My dear, everything I do in life
is directed toward knowing God, loving God,

serving God. As I conceive of him
or her...or it, if you will. Yes, fine: whoever; whatever I conceive of as God.

Myself? I don’t have a self. There
is no self, there’s no I. I’m not here.

There are heretics in this world. There are such things as heretics.
No, I’m not fighting. But I do know a heretic when I meet one.

I just used the name. I AM MARY.

My mother was Mary, I am Mary. Do
you know how many Marys have been in my life?

She doesn’t have to come.

Did she? Yes, and she spit it back
at me.

My mother, my dear, was not quite
all that.

But Mary and Kali are one. MARY
AND KALI ARE ONE! The sacred and the profane are one. She is profane. She is beautiful, and she is profane.

You do know what Kali means, don’t
you? Kali means black. And I worship her, I certainly do worship her.

And they are the same thing.
THEY’RE THE SAME THING. You can’t have the white without the black, you cannot
have the black without the white. How else do you make films, how do you make
pictures?

You’ve just said it and I’ve just
said it. OK! Yes, this is the end. This is Kali Yuga; it's the end, the end.
And it is beautiful. The age of destruction is beautiful. Black, Beautiful and
the End.

Look, man: Each one...runs one's
life...in one’s own way.

Spoil what party?

Who...Kali?

She’s Divine Mother, my dear. That
is who she is: DIVINE MOTHER.

Look: Maha Kali is...among other
things...along with being the Goddess of

Death, Destruction and the
Transformation of Time...Kali is the myth that I have created...as a way of
focusing...to concentrate... She is, let us say, a superior vehicle. And Kali
Incorporated, that bothers you, right?

[recording speeds up]

It’s not my way. You see, I have a
Gemini moon. Gemini is Mercury. And I was born on a Wednesday; Wednesday is
Mercury. And myascendant is
Libra: I play both sides at one time. And as a Taurus I stand my ground.

Well, that’s the way it may
appear. But everything is in the eye of the beholder. To some people I may
always appear as the good guy. And to other people I may always appear as the
bad guy. To me, I am as I do. “By their fruit shall ye know them.”

I’m a what? A traitor? A traitor
to whom? Of course I’m a traitor. Yes, I’m a double agent. You have to be a double agent. You see, I want to be on both sides
at the same fucking time.

Well, you can call it a traitor if
you like... But if I’m on both sides...then this guarantees...that I cannot
lose.

Hey, when it comes down to the
nitty-gritty, then there’s no problem. I know which side of the barricades I’ll
be on. And I know...yes, there’ll be fewer people on my side than on the other
side. But there’ll be BETTER people on my side.

“And not all good people will
be on the same side.” Exactly! Not all
good people will be on the same side. This is a quote from William Levy. But
not in your heart...in your heart you cannot be on both sides.

No, in the heart you can’t. But in
the brain you can. Because the brain is divided into two hemispheres. One
controls the masculine, the other the feminine. And that is where you are on
both sides...because you must be both.
The ideal is...the Androgyny.

“It takes two wings to fly.” True, it takes two wings to fly. I’m getting a bit of
coaching here. Hey, I gotta get off now. I’ll ring you back in about 15
minutes, enshallah. OK...right now I
have something to do. Right, bye-bye.